Thursday, August 2, 2007

#16 So what’s in a wiki?

A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content.

Wikipedia, the online open-community encyclopedia, is the largest and perhaps the most well known of these knowledge sharing tools. With the benefits that wikis provide, the use and popularity of these tools is exploding.

Some of the benefits that make wikis so attractive are:

Anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content.

Tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what been changed and by whom.

Earlier versions of a page can be viewed and reinstated when needed.

And users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases simple syntax structure is used.

As the use of wikis has grown over the last few years, libraries have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge. Among their applications are pathfinder or subject guide wikis, book review wikis, conference wikis and even library best practices wikis.Discovery Resources:Use these resources to learn more aboout wikis:

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The Public libraries of Victoria-Learning 2.0 Program is based on the PLCMC Learning 2.0 program developed by Helene Blowers of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. Many thanks to Helene Blowers for allowing us to use her program. Learning 2.0 is licensed under Creative Commons .